Strategy
Lloyds To Open Three Operations In Europe Post-Brexit - Report

The UK-based bank has reportedly set out its plans for Britain's exit from the EU.
Lloyds
Banking Group has declined to comment that it is planning to
operate three subsidiaries in continental Europe after Britain
leaves the EU, according to Reuters.
Reports state that the UK-based bank will have a subsidiary in
Berlin, Frankfurt and one other unconfirmed location.
This is part of a trend that is seeing lenders distribute their
post-Brexit resources among a number of cities on the continent
rather than basing the bulk of operations in London. Swiss bank
UBS said in March that it would pursue a “decentralised” model,
in line with moves by Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and
JPMorgan, who asked a number of its employees to
relocate from the UK.
Firms are starting to make their long-term plans for the UK's
exit from the EU. What this means for the financial services
sector is still unknown, as Prime Minister Theresa May battles to
achieve a firm cabinet line on Brexit. Arguments centre around
whether the UK will quit the bloc entirely or retain some
membership of the Customs Union, involving possible limits on the
UK's ability to make free trade deals with non-EU nations. There
has been a steady diet of stories of how fund managers and banks
are considering shifting some operations into countries such as
Ireland and Germany to retain a level of EU access. Debate
continues on the scale of any shift, given that London is seen as
being the dominant financial market in Europe over the medium
term.
The financial sector has had a mixed reaction to Brexit.
Paris-based Comgest, the independent asset manager, opened its
first UK representative office in London,
last month, but LGIM (part of Legal & General), on the other
hand, has recently moved its European headquarters to Dublin, as
reported by this publication. While Brexit will undoubtedly
rattle the UK’s financial services sector, a recent survey showed
that the number of finance jobs to be shifted out of the country
by the March 2019 Brexit deadline has dropped by half to 5,000,
compared with earlier forecasts.